Robot 6

Comics A.M. | Appeals court to hear Superman copyright case today

Legal | The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments today on whether a negotiated 2001 deal DC Comics should prevent the daughter of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel from reclaiming his portion of the rights to the Man of Steel under a provision of U.S. copyright law. A federal judge determined in 2008 and 2009 that the writer’s heirs had successfully recaptured the copyright, asserting that because the 2001 agreement hadn’t been formalized, there was no deal. The appeals court is also set to review a ruling allowing DC to sue Marc Toberoff, who represents both the Siegel family and the estate of his collaborator Joe Shuster, for interfering with its agreements with the heirs. [Business Week]

Manga | I talked to Leyla Aker, Viz Media’s vice president of publishing, about last week’s release of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Vol. 13, on the same day it was published in Japan, and why manga publishers are working so hard toward the goal of simultaneous worldwide releases. [Publishers Weekly]

Publishing | Jim Zubkavich gets down to the nitty-gritty of comics publishing: Pay rates, creators’ rights, distribution and the all-important question of actually making money from a comic. [Zub Tales]

Disney Publishing Worldwide

Digital comics | Disney released its tie-in comic for Brave as a digital app rather than a print comic, and it has plans for more; Todd Allen takes a look at that trend and what Disney is doing with its Marvel properties as well. [Publishers Weekly]

Conventions | Both Anime Expo and Otakon reported record-breaking crowds this year. AX gave its turnstile attendance as 130,000, which included almost 50,000 unique attendees. Otakon’s numbers were 100,000 through the turnstiles, 32,000 uniques. The riddle for manga and anime publishers is that their sales have been down sharply over the past few years, but attendance at anime cons has held steady or, as seen here, has gone up. [Asahi Shimbun]